After half a month of continuous attack, Zhenjiang City has turned into a hell on earth.
Under the city wall, the corpses of the two armies were piled up into a mountain. The corpses were trampled into shapes that were not human-like. They were stacked together in a weird and terrifying shape, emitting bursts of stench. The corpses were mixed with blood, covering a one-mile circle under the city wall.
, dyed a weird purple-black color. The city walls are also the same color, just like the legendary devil's castle.
After more than half a month of fierce attacks, the walls of Zhenjiang had been cut off several feet by the Han army. They were in tatters and pitted, like a sandcastle washed over by the tide, and were on the verge of crumbling.
After all, it was late autumn, and even in the south of the Yangtze River, it couldn't rain all day. In fact, a rain that evening seemed to have exhausted the prince's luck. In the next half month, not a drop of rain fell. God!
The Han army would naturally not waste the opportunity. From the next day, their offensive was getting stronger and stronger. The siege equipment prepared was burned by the prince's army with red molten iron. Zhu Gaoxu did not hesitate to assemble the equipment again.
Not wanting to wait, he drove the soldiers of the Han Dynasty army to rush to the city wall using simple ladders.
A famous general like the King of Han could naturally see that the troops defending the city had reached their limit. As long as they maintained a strong offensive and did not give them a chance to breathe, they could win a quick victory!
So in the next few days, the Han army launched a round-the-clock battle. They mounted hundreds of ladders and attacked the city head one after another, densely covering the entire city wall!
The defenders on the city fired arrows and threw rolling stones and wood with all their might. Accompanied by shrill screams, large swaths of the Han army were thrown off the city walls! There were many lucky soldiers who were not injured after falling from high places... because they were under the city walls.
There are too many corpses piled up, enough to provide a strong buffer.
But before they had time to rejoice, pots and pots of boiling oil were poured down from the top of the city. Many soldiers were hit and rolled around in the pile of corpses like crazy. The terrifying screams were louder than those before.
Times!
Zhenjiang is a big city with prosperous commerce. The city's material reserves are extremely rich, which gives great support to the defenders! In addition to pouring boiling vegetable oil on them, dealing with those terrifying siege vehicles also relies on the city's
Blacksmiths, they set up a blast furnace under the city, burned the pig iron into molten iron, lifted it to the top of the city, and poured it down on the siege engines!
The ultra-high temperature of nearly a thousand degrees burned a big hole in the siege vehicle in an instant. Some soldiers touched the molten iron and were burned to the bone...
Buckets of molten iron had to be poured down to kill the indestructible siege engines! Otherwise, with these big guys around, the defenders wouldn't be able to hold on for long...
The people in the city have been fully mobilized. Under the command of the Prince's family, they have shouldered all non-combat tasks such as treating the wounded, providing food, and producing ordnance. Without their full support, the Prince's army would have run out of ammunition and food.
Absolutely, we are running out of manpower...
Of course, the biggest sacrifice came from the defenders at the top of the city. After so many days of bloody battles, Mo Wen had already played all his cards! All the troops had fought at the top of the city at least five times, and the number of troops had been reduced by more than
Half of them, and the rest who were still able to fight, were all injured. Every one of the soldiers was covered in blood, their eyes were red, their expressions were dazed, and their movements were stiff, like ghosts crawling out of hell. How could they still look human?
However, it was such an army that had reached its limit. In the past half month, it had repelled nearly a thousand fierce attacks by the Han army and always kept the city wall in its hands.
As the attacking party, the losses of the Han army were more than three times that of the defenders. However, Zhu Zhanji had no interest in the casualty figures. He sat under the banner day after day, looking at the Zhenjiang city wall expressionlessly, seemingly distracted.
Filled with blood and corpses! No matter how cruel the scene was, it would not make Han Wang even a little shaken. He could only think about one thing, which was to calculate how many more lives to fill in and how much time to spend before tomorrow morning.
The prince's army reached its limit and was defeated.
To this day, Zhu Gaoxu has to admit that his judgment has been overturned time and time again under Zhenjiang City. He once thought that he could break the city in three days at most! However, three days later, Zhenjiang City is still in the hands of the Prince's Army. He again
I thought it would take six days, nine days, or fourteen days at most... However, as the deadlines passed time after time, Zhenjiang City still could not be captured for a long time...
The tattered Zhenjiang city wall that was bombed looked like an ugly smiling face, mocking His Highness the King of Han wantonly!
The Zhenjiang city wall had been forcibly cut off by the cannons of the Han Dynasty, and all the arrow stacks were cut off, and the remaining parts were crumbling. Especially the section facing the river in the north was intensively fired by the Han Dynasty's navy, and it collapsed eight days ago.
A large section of ten feet!
That was dozens of feet, more than a hundred meters, and hundreds of princely troops on top of the city were buried directly under the rubble!
The hearts of the soldiers fell to the bottom - this situation meant that the city defenses were broken and the enemy's fleet would soon land to fight. They could only abandon the city walls and retreat to the streets to fight in the city...
"We cannot abandon the city wall!" Faced with the suggestions of several lieutenants, Wu Wei flatly refused: "Otherwise, once we withdraw, the other three sides will not be able to defend it!"
"But sir," the lieutenants urged: "Without the city wall to rely on, the enemy's warships can attack us from a high position, and there is no way we can withstand it!"
"Then build the city wall!" Wu Wei's answer shocked everyone. They thought how could this be possible? Even if there were no enemies, it would take ten days and a half at the fastest to build this wall! Not to mention the King of Han.
The army is still watching with eager eyes!
"First build a temporary city wall with wooden railings to block their attack!" Wu Wei insisted on his opinion and did not allow for discussion: "I will personally go to the top of the city to supervise, and either block the enemy! Or I will die on the top of the city!
"
"Yes!" With the general's attitude, what else could the lieutenants say, and they hurried to prepare the wooden fence.
The so-called wooden fence is a frame made of wood, similar to the scaffolding used to build a house. Under heavy bombardment every day, Wu Wei had long been worried that the city wall would not be able to support it, so he ordered the people to build many wooden fences.
It’s moments like this you should be prepared for!
But no one expected that the Zhenjiang city wall would collapse dozens of feet at once. After all, the artillery shells of this era did not have such power! But obviously, the defenders were unfortunate enough to encounter a shoddy project...
But there was no time to hold anyone responsible. Wu Wei personally led his soldiers, braved the artillery fire and arrows of the Han Dynasty warships, to lift sections of wooden railings up to the gaps in the ruined city wall, and barely fixed them, using
Tie the iron chains into a string, lay them with wooden planks, and a simple temporary city wall is built!
At this time, the landing force of the Han army was also ready. They took small boats and rushed to the bottom of the city wall, then jumped onto the ruins and climbed up screaming!
Wu Wei then led the prince's army to launch a blockade on the temporary city wall made of wood! The defenders on this section of the city wall had suffered the least losses before, because there had been no hand-to-hand combat before, and the fleet of the Han army only continued to use artillery fire.
After all, baptizing the city wall won't kill many soldiers.
So while Wu Weineng organized the defense, he also allocated half of his troops to work with the civilians to repair the city wall with masonry knives! After all, the wooden fence is only temporary, and it is hard to say how long it will last. If the city wall is not repaired well, sooner or later it will not be able to withstand the enemy.
attack. Therefore, we must race against time and cannot wait to repel the enemy before repairing!
As a result, such a strange scene appeared on the battlefield. The soldiers in the front stood on the wooden fence like scaffolding and fought desperately, resisting the enemy's attack. The comrades behind them, holding masonry knives, moved
Bricks, dry in full swing.
What's valuable is that such a chaotic battle and construction scene can be well organized under Wu Wei's command and coordination, and the two fronts even support each other... The broken bricks cleaned up by the construction team do not need to be transported away at all, but are delivered directly in baskets
The soldiers guarding the city took bricks and threw them down the wooden fence, causing the King of Han's army to have a bloody head...
However, Zhu Gaoxu was a famous general after all. He soon discovered that this was the best place to break through the city wall. He ordered the navy to devote all its strength to a fierce attack! He also ordered the newly reinforced 20,000 troops to board sand ships and sail to the north wall.
All into battle!
Under the strong attack, the pressure on Wu Wei's side increased sharply, and the number of casualties also skyrocketed. One wooden fence after another was blown up and chopped down, but he possesses the most valuable quality of a city defender - tenacity! Wu Wei is fundamentally
Regardless of the casualties, he commanded the officers and soldiers to carry new wooden railings to the top of the city to replace the ones that were destroyed! He would replace as much as they were destroyed! Unless the Han army killed all his people, there would be no hope.
One step into the city wall!
Wu Wei even organized a spear team, using improvised spears of eight feet to pass through the wooden fence to attack the enemy. The Han army was caught off guard and fell to the top of the city screaming! Some people desperately tried to catch the spears, but who knew
As soon as the hand touched it, it screamed and bounced away, as if it had touched a red-hot iron! When I looked at the hand that had touched the spear, it was blurred! It had really touched the iron...
It turns out that Wu Wei had expected this, and these spears were heated before they were thrust out!
The Han army that attacked this section couldn't figure it out. They clearly had an absolute advantage, but why? They were blocked by these crude fortifications and couldn't advance even an inch?
They didn't know that what stopped them was not the crude fortifications, but the defenders' determination not to give in!
This section of the northern city wall became the focus of contention between the two armies in the following days. The two sides fought for their lives, resulting in extremely heavy casualties! The Han army continued to reinforce, but Wu Wei did not have any reinforcements... Mo Wen did not support him.
But there are no soldiers at all...
"Sir," of the four former lieutenants, now only one is left, and the other three were all killed in the battle. "Our troops cannot withstand the enemy's next attack!" The only remaining lieutenant general was also injured and hung up.
Holding one arm, he reported in a hoarse voice.
"Let the engineering team stop first," Wu Wei sighed. He wanted to repair the city wall while fighting, but it was indeed an extravagant hope. "First defend the city with all our strength..."